U.S. Kids spending more time online: Study

San Francisco: Time spent online by children aged between two and 11 in the US has surged by 63 percent in the last five years, according to a new study.

The average time spent online per month by children in the US has increased from nearly seven hours in May 2004 to more than 11 hours in May 2009, marketing information company Nielsen said in its report released Monday.

In comparison, time spent online for the overall US population grew 36 percent in the same period.

According to the report, there were nearly 16 million Internet using children in the US as of May this year, representing 9.5 percent of the overall Internet using population.

The fast growth rate of children online is noteworthy considering that the number of children under 14 in the US is expected to decrease by one percent from 2004 to 2010, the report said, citing projections from the US Census Bureau.
Source: IANS